


By Any Other Name

by AKindofMagic93



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Diverges from canon, F/F, F/M, Het, M/M, Slash, femmeslash, house switching/resorting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-01-09 11:24:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12275433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKindofMagic93/pseuds/AKindofMagic93
Summary: Life at Hogwarts had never been easy for Lyra, but now that her father had escaped from Azkaban it was about to get ten times worse. More determined than ever to prove his innocence, she sets out to hunt down the traitorous rat that ruined her father's life.





	1. A Daughter's Hope

**Author's Note:**

> So I probably shouldn't be starting a new fic when I've got others that haven't been updated in ages, but I've had this idea for a while and I finally got some inspiration for it. I don't know how often I'll be updating - I've already started writing chapter two, but after that who knows? I'm also planning on taking part in NaNoWriMo this year, so there probably won't be many updates in November. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you like, and I always enjoy reading your comments. Constructive criticism is always welcome too! :)

It was early morning when Lyra woke. She wasn't usually an early riser, but the bright sunlight streaming in through the window meant that today she was. She'd forgotten to close the curtains. It wasn't the first time she'd done this and it wouldn't be the last. In fact, she knew for certain it happened once every month: the night of the full moon.

Last night had been no different than usual. It was the same routine every time; it was safer that way. The house would be locked up tight with magic, Lyra would transform into her Animagus form before the moon rose and then she would make her way to her godfather's room. After he had transformed, she would keep him company until he fell asleep and then she would leave. She would head back to her own room where she would fall asleep in her Animagus form and then wake up not long after the sun rose. She wanted to stay with him and keep him company for the whole night, but Remus didn't like her being there when he transformed back. She respected that, but that didn't mean she didn't hate the thought of him being all alone.

Lyra shifted back to her human form, dragged herself out of bed and shuffled over to the bathroom to take a shower. Lyra and Remus were complete opposites when it came to mornings. While Lyra was a late riser, Remus was an early one. The only time the opposite happened was when the full moon was involved and Remus would not rise till lunchtime. Today was no different. She glanced into the bathroom mirror as she tied her wet hair up, not being bothered to dry it. Remus said that she had the classic Black good looks: tall and thin with a certain beautiful elegance that could only be attributed to a member of the House of Black. She had the characteristic black hair, but instead of the dark eyes that most of the Black family had, she had grey eyes like her father. Staring at her reflection, Lyra didn't see what her godfather saw; she saw a pale, average-looking teenager with dark bags under her eyes. She rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to wake them up a bit more. She shouldn't complain though; she'd much rather lose some sleep and look after Remus during the full moon, even if he insisted that it wasn't necessary. He was just being polite and she knew he appreciated what she did for him, however little it was.

She carried on doing the same thing she did every morning after the full moon. After having breakfast, she took a bar of chocolate and a mug full of hot, sugary tea and left them on Remus's bedside table. She pulled a blanket over Remus's sleeping form and then left him to sleep off the full moon.

* * *

A bell tinkled as Lyra entered the corner shop and the owner, Benji, looked up and smiled when he saw her. "Morning, Lyra," Benji greeted in his usual cheery tone, "how's Remus this morning?" Benji was tall, but thick set, and could be rather intimidating if you didn't know that he had one of the kindest hearts of anyone around. His brown hair was starting to grey and his green eyes suggested he was worldly wise. The village they lived in only housed around a hundred people, half of whom were magical. Benji, who was neither magical nor Muggle but was a Squib, had been living there longer than most. Certainly longer than anyone else Lyra knew there.

Lyra gave a half-shrug as she grabbed a large tin of chicken soup and a loaf of bread, "He's not up yet, so I don't know for sure, but I think last night was especially rough on him for some reason. He was distracted all night and I don't think it was just because of the moon."

Benji looked guilty. It was an odd look on him. Lyra and Remus had known him ever since they moved to the tiny village of Falcon's End in Falmouth and she had never once seen him anything less than honest, "What? What is it?" she asked, concerned.

"Lyra, have you read the Prophet recently?"

"No. You know we don't get it anymore."

"Then you don't know about…?"

"Know about what? Just tell me what's wrong, Benji."

Benji reached behind the counter and grabbed a copy of the Daily Prophet from a few days ago. The headline read Escape from Azkaban! and below was a picture of the escapee. Lyra stared into the manic eyes of her father. "Does Remus know about this?"

Benji nodded. "I showed him yesterday morning when he came in."

Lyra swallowed. "He didn't tell me." She couldn't tear her eyes away from the Prophet and the picture of her father. He looked every bit the Azkaban inmate: thin, gaunt and wild-eyed.

Benji gently prised the newspaper out of her hands. "It'll be alright. He was probably just trying to protect you."

Lyra snorted. "Protect me? I don't need protecting! It's not like I'm in any danger."

"Remus might not think that."

Lyra snorted again. "He thinks my Dad is guilty, which he isn't."

"Lyra…" Benji sighed. Benji knew exactly how Lyra felt about her father since she'd never kept her beliefs about his innocence a secret. Benji, however, tended to side with Remus on the matter. She could forgive Benji for that. He hadn't known Sirius, so it was easy for him to believe what the papers had reported. Remus had been Sirius's best friend though, and she'd thought he'd have a little more faith in their friendship.

"Don't!" Lyra interjected. "Don't try and convince me, Benji, because you know it's not going to work! He's innocent and nothing you or Remus say will ever convince me otherwise."

"Fine," Benji said, holding his hands up in surrender. It was far too early in the morning to argue and the middle of his shop was certainly not the place for it either.

"Can I have that?" Lyra asked, gesturing to the newspaper, "And any others from the past few days if you have them?"

"Course," he handed her the four papers he'd kept, and she handed him the money for the bread and soup.

Lyra took the food, newspapers and change that Benji handed her, bid her goodbyes to him and left.

As expected, Remus was still in bed when Lyra got home. After putting the food away, Lyra took the four newspapers Benji had given her and spread them out over the kitchen table. The Prophet dated the day after the escape was speculating about where he was and where he would go and what to do if he was sighted. The one from the day before held nothing of interest. The fourth one, however, dated the 1st August, was the one that fascinated her the most. She must've been staring at the picture on the front page for a good long while and she didn't even realise that Remus had entered the room until he coughed.

Lyra tore her eyes away from the paper in front of her and looked up at her godfather. His hair was dishevelled, there were bags under his eyes and he looked unwell. Lyra hated how much the full moon took its toll on him and she hated that there was nothing she could do about it.

"Morning, Remus," Lyra said, getting up to make his usual chicken soup. She tried to quash the burning desire she had to question him about her father and his escape from Azkaban. Now was not the time. She'd wait until he was feeling less shitty. She put the soup in the microwave (despite them both being magical, they still preferred Muggle means of cooking) and started to shift the newspapers, hoping her godfather wouldn't question them.

"Morning," Remus muttered, his voice hoarse. "What are you reading?"

Damn. So much for not asking or talking about it. "Just the papers." Maybe she could pass them off as Muggle newspapers, though as soon as this thought had crossed her mind she realised that wasn't going to happen. Remus had already clocked the headlines and moving pictures.

He stiffened. "Oh."

Well, here we go, she thought, so much for waiting. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked softly, not wanting to cause an argument when Remus was still recovering from the night before.

Remus let out a deep sigh and then said, "Because I didn't want you to end up hurt."

Lyra spun round, unable to keep the accusatory tone out of her voice as she said, "Do you honestly believe my own father would want to cause me harm?"

Remus seemed genuinely shocked as he replied, "Merlin, no. You were the light of Sirius's life. Whatever I may believe about what he did I know for a fact that he would never do anything to hurt you. That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

Remus sighed. "You believe he's innocent. Maybe you're right and he didn't betray all of us. In my heart, I want to believe that you're right, but my head won't let me. But you, you still have that hope. Hope is a very powerful thing, Lyra, and I don't want you to get hurt by meeting your father and finding out you were wrong. Hope is a very dangerous thing to lose."

Lyra turned back to the microwave as it started to beep at her. "I understand where you're coming from, Remus, I really do. Maybe I don't know my father as well as you, but after everything you've told me about him, I just find it hard to believe that he would do something like that."

"I know, Lyra, I know. Sometimes I find it hard to believe too."

Lyra gathered up the papers and laid them to one side. "I'm gonna head over to Ade's house. You gonna be alright?"

"I'll be fine."

"Just make sure you eat and drink plenty. You need to get your energy back up."

There was an amused smile on Remus's face as he replied, "Yes, Mum."

Lyra gave him a slight shove on the arm. "You'd have something to complain about if I didn't care."

"Out of the two of us, who's supposed to be the parent?"

Lyra hummed. "Hmm, I sometimes wonder."

Remus picked up a Cheerio that must have escaped from Lyra's breakfast earlier and flicked it at her.

Lyra caught the Cheerio with the reflexes and skill only a Keeper could have. "See what I mean? You've just proved my point!"

* * *

 Lyra knocked on the door of the Pucey household. Mr Pucey answered with a "Good morning, Lyra," and stepped aside to let her in.

"Morning, Gordon," Lyra replied, stepping into the hallway.

Gordon Pucey was tall, with dark hair, a greying beard and reading glasses perched on top of his head. Gordon had raised his son Adrian by himself, Adrian's mother having left when he was three; he hadn't seen her since. Lyra could sympathise with absentee mothers as her own mother had left not long after she was born. Lyra didn't even know who her mother was and everyone she asked either didn't know or wouldn't tell her. Not even Remus would divulge the information and he usually tried not to keep secrets from her. It made her think that her mother was someone she was better off not knowing anything about.

"Ade and Cas are upstairs," Gordon said.

Lyra nodded her thanks before heading up the flight of stairs that lead off the hallway. Adrian's bedroom was the first room on the right and she pushed open the door without even knocking. Adrian was slouched on an emerald green bean bag on the floor, while Cas was slumped back on Adrian's bed in the far corner, one leg dangling off and throwing an old tennis ball up and then catching it. As she said hello to them both, she gave Cas a gentle nudge and he shifted his other leg into a bent position to make room for Lyra to sit down.

Adrian Pucey and Cassius Warrington had known each other since birth, and Lyra had been best friends with the both of them since she and Remus moved to Falmouth when she was three. The three had been inseparable ever since, even when the boys were sorted into Slytherin and Lyra into Ravenclaw.

"How's Remus?" Cas asked, as he threw the tennis ball up and caught it again. Cas wasn't much taller than Lyra and he had dark blond hair and hazel eyes. He had a much stockier build than Chasers usually had, but he was a quicker flier than he looked which made up for the fact that his reflexes weren't especially sharp.

Lyra shrugged her shoulders, adjusting a cushion behind her as she leaned against the wall, "Same as usual."

Ade and Cas, as well as their parents, both knew about Remus's lycanthropy. It was hard to keep something like that a secret when you lived in such a small village, if not for the howls that could be heard coming from their house (they'd tried to use silencing charms, but Remus often broke them anyway, so there was no point anymore) then for how haggard and run-down Remus looked once a month. It wasn't a difficult thing to figure out once you put all the pieces together. No one had an issue with it though and Gordon and Samantha, Cas's mum, liked to help anyway they could. Remus wasn't usually one for accepting charity, but he was too polite to refuse the pies and cakes Gordon baked for them and Samantha absolutely insisted on doing their cleaning, arguing that Remus didn't even do it properly anyway. They got by. It was tough with Remus never sticking to one job for very long, but they managed. That would all change this year and now that Remus was going to be teaching at Hogwarts, things were starting to look up for them.

Lyra shot a wistful glance to the sunny, cloud-free sky outside. "Can we do something? You know I hate being stuck inside when it's nice out."

"Quidditch?" Adrian suggested, already knowing the answer. Ade had dark hair and dark eyes and, in contrast to Cas, had a much more typical Chaser's build: he was agile and lithe, but though he was quick, he wasn't as quick as Cas was. He did have better reflexes though. If Lyra had a galleon for every time Ade and Cas argued over who was the better Chaser then Remus would never have to work again.

"Of course," Lyra and Cas said, as if there was anything else the three would rather be doing on a day like this.

As he sat up, Cas chucked the tennis ball to Ade, who skilfully caught it and placed it on the desk behind him. Grabbing his Nimbus 2001, along with the training Quaffle he owned (which was slightly smaller than a normal Quaffle) he led the way outside.

After stopping by Cas's house to pick up his Nimbus 2001 and Lyra's to pick up her Nimbus 2000 and Keeper's gloves, they made their way though the forest at the back of Remus and Lyra's house to the clearing they used to play Quidditch in. It was kind of perfect really, with Ade and Cas both Chasers and Lyra being a Keeper, it meant they could get a headstart on training for the matches at school. The fact that Lyra was in a different house to them only made them all the more competitive.

The clearing was far enough away from the village that they didn't have to worry about being seen by Muggles, though they still had to be careful not to fly too high. In lieu of the golden hoops that usually flanked either end of a Quidditch pitch, Ade and Cas tried to score through a gap between two trees, a gap which Lyra never failed to defend well.

After spending a good few hours in the air, the three decided to call it a day. They'd spent about an hour or so actually playing Quidditch and the rest of the time was spent playing broomstick tag (which was essentially the same as ordinary Muggle tag, just in the air) and generally being silly. Cas invited them both round for tea, but Lyra politely declined, wanting to check on Remus. Once they got back to her house, she gave them both a hug and said she'd see them tomorrow.

Remus was sat at the kitchen table when she got back inside, reading one of the newspapers from earlier. He looked much better, though Lyra could tell he was still tired. "You look a lot better," she commented as she rested her Nimbus against the kitchen door. She loved her broom and it was the single most expensive thing either of them owned apart from the house. Remus had bought it for her fourteenth birthday last year. He must've been saving up for the whole year since it'd had come out, because Lyra knew the Nimbus brooms weren't cheap.

"Thanks," Remus replied, glancing up from the paper briefly, "still feel like shit though. What do you want for dinner?"

Lyra frowned. "I'll sort that out, you should rest. Just let me go take a shower first."

Remus nodded, but Lyra still found him making a start on dinner when she came down from her shower. She chastised him and then ushered him away with a wooden spoon, telling him to put his feet up and that dinner was under control. She shook her head as Remus begrudgingly left the room.

* * *

After dinner, Lyra sat on her bed with the four Daily Prophet newspapers spread out in front of her once again. Her grey eyes kept being drawn back to the photo of the Weasley family in Egypt, specifically the rat on the youngest boy's shoulders. Her eyes narrowed and she brought the paper closer to get a better look. She couldn't be sure, but…

She leaned over the side of her bed, her hand reaching underneath to grab the box Remus had given her full of photos of her father and the Marauders. She rifled through them till she found the one she was looking for. A-ha! It was a bit ratty and yellowing round the edges, but the picture was still as clear as ever; her father, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew all in their Animagus forms. To anyone else it would look like a rather odd photo of three unlikely animals. She honed in on Peter, the rat, and her eyes flickered from the newspaper to the photo and back again. She couldn't be a hundred percent sure, because the rat in the Prophet photo wasn't completely clear, but in her heart there was no doubt about it. It was the same rat. Peter Pettigrew wasn't dead. Her father was innocent.


	2. The Dementor's Search

Lyra was dreading going back to Hogwarts. She usually had a nervous anticipation about returning, but never full-on dread. Thanks to a loud-mouthed Gryffindor back in her first year her whole year group, and possibly the rest of the school as well, knew exactly who her father was. She'd always been given shit for it; daughter of a mass murderer and traitor being accompanied by more colourful insults she'd rather not repeat, but with her father's escape, this year was going to be ten times worse. Not even Cas and Ade's reassurances that they'd stand by her managed to quell the dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach.

Remus being at Hogwarts wasn't likely to make things better either. If it got out that their new Defence Professor was her godfather, then 'teacher's pet' was likely to be added to the long list of names people had for her. She'd decided not to tell Remus her suspicions about the Weasley's rat; she'd wait until she had proof, that way Remus wouldn't be able to deny it and would finally believe what she'd been saying all these years.

She had hoped that maybe her father would've come to see her, even if it was just in his Animagus form, but, alas, she'd not seen or heard anything from him since he'd escaped. Realistically, though, she knew that hadn't been likely to happen; he had no idea where they lived now as they'd moved not long after he'd been arrested. Besides which, Azkaban was in the very north of the North Sea and Falmouth was in the south west of England; it would have been a very long way to travel in his Animagus form and she knew he wouldn't have risked it as a human.

Lyra sighed as she made her way across Platform 9 and 3/4, searching for Ade and Cas. Usually, they all went together, but Remus had wanted to get there early this year so he could get settled on the train and go over his lesson plans one more time. That was just fine with Lyra, since it meant they got there early enough that barely anyone would see them arrive together. Not that she was embarrassed to be seen out with her godfather, but again she didn't want another nickname adding to the list.

As she pushed her way through the crowds that had now gathered on the platform, her trunk hovering along in front of her, she could hear the muttering from her fellow students and see the stares out of the corner of her eye. As much as she tried to ignore them, she couldn't deny that it bothered her a bit. Despite the insults throughout the years, most people at Hogwarts just tended to ignore her or avoid her; she wasn't used to being the centre of attention. The only people who had never treated her any differently were the Slytherins. Whether that was because of Cas and Ade's influence, because they respected her family name or because they knew the truth, Lyra could never quite be sure. Nevertheless, the only friends Lyra had were Slytherins and she was counting on them to carry on treating her the way they always had. It just sucked that she couldn't be in Slytherin with them and instead had to go back to Ravenclaw Tower at the end of each day. She pushed her way through a group of glaring Hufflepuffs and onto a clear stretch of platform.

Then she saw them: a group of redheads standing a few metres away from her on the platform. The Weasleys. Her eyes scanned the group, looking for a grey rat with a missing toe, but she couldn't see him. Then her eyes fell on a boy with wild black hair, glasses and a lightning bolt scar. Harry Potter. She was fairly confident he had no idea who she was, and she planned on keeping it that way. Though that was something she might have no control over, if certain loud-mouthed Gryffindors decided to make it known to him that Sirius Black's daughter was at Hogwarts. It didn't matter anyway, Harry was a third year Gryffindor and Lyra was a fifth year Ravenclaw; they weren't likely to cross paths anytime soon, if ever.

A loud, "There you are!" jolted her out of her thoughts and she spun round to see Ade and Cas heading in her direction. They were sans trunks, as they'd already found a compartment on the train.

"Hey guys, I was wondering if you were here yet. I've been here ages," Lyra said, following the Slytherins back through the crowd and onto the train, her trunk still hovering along in front of her. In fact, she'd been there so long that she'd already changed into her robes, with a shiny new Prefect badge sitting proudly above the Ravenclaw badge. She'd been so thrilled when she'd received the letter telling her she was to be one of the Ravenclaw Prefects this year, though not as ecstatic as Remus had been. When she'd shown him the badge he'd hugged her tightly and declared he was treating her to dinner in the semi-fancy restaurant in town. Ade and Cas had both groaned when she'd told them, as it meant that their monthly midnight feasts in the school kitchens would no longer happen. Lyra had assured them that wouldn't be the case, but they both knew she wasn't much of a rule-breaker as it was so they hadn't quite believed her.

"Remus wanted to get here early then?" Ade asked, already knowing the answer.

"Far too early for my liking," Lyra huffed, not having appreciated having to get up nearly two hours earlier than she usually would have.

"You could've come with us," Cas said.

"S'pose," Lyra said, "I kinda got the feeling Remus needed the support though. He's still a bit nervous about teaching."

"He shouldn't be. He was born to be a Professor. I couldn't think of anyone better suited to the role," Adrian glared at a couple of second years who were taking up far too much space in the corridor.

"Well make sure you tell him that; he needs his confidence boosting a bit."

The three headed down the train towards the back. Most of the students were already on the train and the compartments were starting to fill up. They passed the one Remus was in and gave him a friendly wave. Eventually they reached a compartment near the end of the train. Elliott Parkinson was already seated and Lyra greeted him as they entered. She hovered her trunk up onto the rack above the seats and took a seat opposite Elliott. Cas sat next to her and Ade sat next to Elliott, giving his boyfriend a kiss as he did so. They'd been dating since near the end of fourth year and they were still as lovey-dovey now three months later as they had been in that first week they got together.

When neither of them showed any inclination of pulling away from the other, Lyra gave Elliott's shin a light kick. "Oi, if you plan on doing that for the rest of the journey, you can find another compartment. I have no desire to watch two of my best friends playing tonsil tennis for the next several hours."

Elliott managed to drag his lips away from Adrian's long enough to stick his tongue out at Lyra and reply, "You're just jealous."

Lyra gave a little snort at that, "Jealous? It may have escaped your notice, Elliott, but you and Ade aren't exactly my type." She'd come to the realisation at the start of her third year that she liked girls the way her dorm mates liked boys. It was a realisation she'd come to fairly easily, unlike when Ade realised he had feelings for Elliott and went into full-on panic mode. The only people who knew were the three people she was currently sharing a compartment with and, of course, Remus. She knew her friends wouldn't have an issue with it, but she had been nervous - wrongly so - when she'd told Remus. Her godfather had given her a small smile, said that he'd suspected as much and then told her that he was bisexual. He'd then asked if there was some lucky girl that she liked, to which Lyra blushed furiously, stuttered out a no, and fled the room from embarrassment, leaving Remus chuckling away.

"You know what I mean! You just wish you could be doing this with Isabella," Elliott teased.

Lyra blushed, not unlike how she did that day she came out to Remus. "Shush!" Her eyes darted to the compartment door, as if expecting the girl she'd been mooning over for the past several months to just suddenly appear there.

Lyra scowled as Elliott began to cackle with laughter.

Isabella Zabini was, in Lyra's eyes, the most beautiful girl in their year, if not the whole school. She was dark-skinned, with long, thick, dark hair that Lyra itched to run her fingers through. She had dark, chocolatey eyes and a figure that just oozed elegance and gracefulness. Lyra had been crushing hard on her for the better part of a year, and during that time the only contact she'd had with her was in lessons where Lyra had just about managed to garble out a few semi-intelligent sentences. Ade and Cas used to tease her mercilessly about it, that is until they developed crushes of their own which meant Lyra could give as good as she got.

Cas rolled his eyes, "Oh, honestly, I don't know why you don't just talk to her."

Lyra shot him a glare, "Because I'm likely to turn into a gibbering imbecile, that's why."

"I've seen you talk to her in lessons."

"That's different."

"How so?" Ade asked.

"Because it just is! Besides I don't even know if she likes girls."

"So ask her," Cas shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lyra spluttered at the suggestion, "You can't just go up to someone and ask them what their sexuality is!"

"Why not? Adrian did it with Elliott."

Ade flushed at the reminder of one of his not-so finest moments.

"Yes, but Ade was a moron and his actions should not be hailed as a perfect example of asking someone out."

"Hey! I was not a moron!" Ade objected.

Elliott patted his boyfriend's arm sympathetically. "Honey, you were a bit of a - what did Lyra say? - gibbering imbecile when it came to asking me out."

Ade crossed his arms and pouted. "Well, excuse me for having a bit of a sexuality crisis."

"Aww, come on, cheer up, you got me didn't you?"

Adrian took the opportunity to attack Elliott with his mouth again. Lyra and Cas let out equal groans of annoyance.

When they managed to separate themselves again, Elliott noticed Lyra's Prefect badge. "You made Prefect too? Awesome! You can help me keep these two in line." He held his hand out for a high five, which Lyra returned enthusiastically.

Adrian and Cassius exchanged glances. They were so screwed.

* * *

Once Lyra and Elliott had returned from their Prefect's meeting at the front of the train, the four spent the next few hours catching up, stuffing their faces with sweets, playing Exploding Snap and just generally having a laugh. They were _supposed_ to be patrolling the train and making sure people weren't doing something they weren't supposed to, but frankly there were enough Prefects that they could get away with hanging out with their friends for a few hours and just putting an appearance in on the corridor once in a while.

Elliott was in the middle of telling the others about his family's trip to Austria and how he and his sister Pansy had almost got lost in Vienna when it happened. The train stopped. The lights flickered before going out entirely. It was cold.

"What the-" Ade exclaimed, echoing the sentiments of everyone in the compartment, and probably everyone on the train.

Cas wiped the condensation covered window with his sleeve and peered out.

"See anything?" Lyra asked, shivering. She had a bad feeling about this.

Cas shook his head as he pulled away from the window. "Not really, it's too dark out. I thought I could see something moving, but I don't know."

Elliott took out his wand and muttered, "Lumos." The tip of his wand glowed, casting a white light over the four of them and brightening the dark compartment.

Lyra stood, opening the compartment door and peering her head round to see if she could see anything. She stepped out fully onto the corridor, squinting in the darkness. She lit her wand; she could see something a bit further down the corridor, but she couldn't quite make out what it was. The light of her wand was bright enough to extend several metres down the corridor and what she saw in the distance almost made her gasp. Hovering just in front of the compartment her godfather was in  was a figure dressed in a dark hooded cloak. She could just make out a scabby grey hand protruding from the cloak. It was a Dementor. She'd only ever seen pictures of them in books, but there was no doubting that was what it was. The cold it exuded practically consumed the train corridor. She shivered again.

Lyra stood rooted to the spot as the Dementor seemed to sense her presence and turned its head towards her. It didn't move, but it seemed to be studying her. There was no doubt who it was looking for, and Lyra wondered if it could sense that she was related to its prey. After several long minutes, it turned its head away and focused back on her godfather's compartment. She watched transfixed as it opened the door and was soon met with her godfather's Patronus charm. She let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding as it fled the opposite way down the corridor.

Her godfather stepped out into the corridor, saying something to whoever was in the compartment with him, and then approached her. "Lyra? Are you alright? You look pale," he asked, worry etched in his voice. The lights had flickered back on now, and Lyra extinguished her wand.

"M'fine," she replied, before adding, "I always look pale." At least the Dementor hadn't taken her sense of humour with it.

Remus gave a weak smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Go sit back down and eat some chocolate. You'll feel better soon."

Lyra rolled her eyes at his suggestion, "That's your answer for everything: chocolate."

"What can I say? I have a sweet tooth. That, and it does actually work."

"Yeah, yeah," Lyra teased, not entirely convinced by his reasoning.

"Seriously, Lyra, it'll make you feel better. I'll come check on you all later."

Lyra nodded, offering Remus a small smile before heading back into her compartment.

"What was it?" Cas asked, worry etched on his features. It was an odd look on him; Cas was one of the most carefree people Lyra knew, so to see him actually worried about something unnerved her a little.

Lyra settled back into her seat, "A Dementor."

"Shit," Elliott muttered. He looked as pale as Lyra did and he had a vice-like grip on Ade's hand. Elliott was the only one out of the four of them who really knew the effect Dementors could have on a person. He'd visited his grandfather in Azkaban numerous times, not that he'd ever wanted to; he had no desire to visit his homophobic, Muggle-hating, Voldemort-loving grandfather, but his father had never given him much choice. The presence of Dementors was not something you ever got used to and every visit to Azkaban had left Elliott feeling miserable and ill. "What did it want?"

"My father, of course," Lyra scowled. "It's gone now."

"Good riddance," Ade said, having let go of Elliott's hand and slung an arm round his shoulder instead. "If I never see a Dementor again it'll be too soon."

Lyra hummed in agreement, though she got the feeling it wouldn't be the last they saw of them.


End file.
